


Under the Stars

by IChallengeMyFate (Ealdremen)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3346346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealdremen/pseuds/IChallengeMyFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucina and Robin go stargazing in a field outside of Ylisstol, but something seems to be weighing on Lucina’s mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on ichallengemyfate.tumblr.com.

“Up there – do you see that group of stars that looks like a cross?”

Laying side-by-side with Lucina in a grassy field, Robin pointed up at the night sky. The weather had cooperated with them for this one night. It was cool, but not too frigid, and the moon was just starting to rise, giving them enough light to see each other while also not outshining the stars in the center of the cloudless sky.

Lucina nodded, her head resting against Robin’s other arm. “Yes.”

“Well, look just beneath it. That’s Roland holding out his sword, Durandal, as he fights against the demonic dragon Idenn. See her four wings? And the red star there, that’s her eye.”

Robin traced out the dragon’s form with his finger, grinning a bit when he caught Lucina’s enraptured expression. She probably hadn’t ever considered that cluster of stars to look like anything in particular, much less a perpetual mythical battle. Gods knew that Robin wasn’t able to pick out constellations until he memorized star charts or had them pointed out to him.

“They actually have an interesting story,” he remarked.

Lucina stared at him with wide eyes. “The stars have stories?”

Her awe and wonder at such simple things never ceased. Robin nodded and pointed back up to the sky, returning Lucina’s attention back to the constellation.

“A lot of them do. Those particular stars never set and seem to instead rotate in the sky as the night goes on. So while right now it looks like the dragon is on top and about to kill Roland…” He indicated Idenn in the sky, then moved his finger around in a circle. “…Towards the morning, it’ll seem more like Roland is leaping into the air and ready to stab the dragon in the heart. The legend goes that he defeats her, and thus ends the darkness, bringing dawn into the world.”

Robin lowered his arm, swelling a bit with pride at Lucina’s stunned silence. He wasn’t quite sure if he’d gotten the story completely right, but it seemed close enough to what he remembered.

“You know quite a lot about the stars,” she said after a pause.

Robin chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve read a few astronomy books.”

“Well, it’s fortunate you did. I scarcely know any of these stars, much less their stories.” Lucina shifted a bit against him, and she scanned the sky almost as though she were looking for something.

Robin also let his eyes wander the sky. He was fairly certain he could pick out Hanon, the archer on horseback, but he didn’t want to point out any constellations he was unsure about. Yet even the stars on their own made for a breathtaking sight. The cluster of blue stars in the southern part of the sky seemed to point like an arrow to the current location of the wandering star, Xane. He scratched at his chin, trying to remember what he knew about Xane. The star seemed to change spots relative to other stars over the course of the year, but…

“Do you ever think about… him?” Lucina asked, jarring Robin out of his thoughts.

He tilted his head a bit to look at her, but she was staring straight up at the sky. The hesitation in her voice told him that she wasn’t talking about Roland in the stars. She glanced his way and sat up, her back now towards him. A sense of anxiety burned its way into the pit of his stomach.

“About who?” Robin asked, raising a brow.

He propped himself up on his elbows, waiting for her to turn back, but she didn’t.

“The you in… the future I’m from.”

Robin flinched. It was only a nicer way of saying “Grima,” and he knew it, but it didn’t make the reminder of what he almost became any more pleasant. He shook his head even though Lucina couldn’t see him.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t.” Robin edged over to her, peering at her. “But he and I are different. You know that, right?”

The grass rustled beneath him as he shifted his position again to sit next to her, and he rested his hand on her shoulder. To his relief, she didn’t push him away and instead laid her hand on top of his.

“Of course I do. I just… I wonder about him,” Lucina finished lamely.

The melancholy in her voice was worrisome, and it made Robin feel as though it wasn’t just idle wondering. It wasn’t quite like when they jokingly speculated if the Inigo of this timeline would be more or less of a womanizer, or if the Yarne born in this timeline might grow up to be less cowardly and timid. It felt more like it was a heavy burden she had held for ages and was only just admitting was weighing her down.

Robin asked, “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

Lucina pointed skyward at the constellation Idenn, the starry claws reaching out to slash through the heroic Roland. Robin grimaced – of all the constellations to point out in the sky, he should have realized that the one with a hero slaying a dragon would make Lucina think of her own past. There were dozens of others he could have told her about instead, like Durban the Berserker or the heroic lion named Soan. He silently cursed his negligence.

“What made him choose to serve Grima?” Lucina tucked her knees to her chest. “It… really makes me wonder.”

It was a good question, but not one Robin could admit he liked to dwell on. The idea that he could have become Grima was terrifying beyond words. He shuddered and looked at his right hand. The mark was gone now, but both his and Lucina’s memories of Grima couldn’t be erased so easily. Just looking at where the mark once had been filled him with dread.

“I can’t answer for him,” he said.

Lucina nodded, as if that were the answer she had expected, and the sounds of the night filled the silence between them. The early summer insects buzzed and chirped in the still night. A light breeze rustled the grass on the hill. It seemed like the conversation was going to die there until Lucina’s fingers curled around his hand tighter and she spoke again.

“When I first traveled back in time…” Robin looked back to her, but she was still staring ahead, her voice a bit distant. “…My priority was to save my father and… the exalt.”

“Right… We first met you in the castle courtyard.” Lucina gave him a curious glance, prompting him to add, “Wait, didn’t we?”

Robin was _sure_ that he had first seen Lucina in the courtyard of Ylisstol’s castle. It was impossible to forget that night. The assassins nearly killing Chrom and Emmeryn, encountering the man Robin would later find out was his father… and, of course, Lucina’s then-seemingly impossible knowledge of the future. It had been a night of utmost panic and confusion. How could he forget it?

“I suppose your memory is as awful as everyone says.” Lucina shook her head at his miffed expression, and he swallowed his protests so she could speak. “But, yes, we did meet there. I intended to save the exalt from the Grimleal’s assassination attempt. In my time, her death… it lingered on my father’s mind for the rest of his life. He tried to protect her, but in the end, he was wounded too badly, and the assassins killed the exalt. It spurred him to take any chance he could at avenging her. Years after, he took his closest allies and went after that Grimleal man.”

“Validar,” murmured Robin.

The name stirred a few memories, none of them pleasant. His right hand clenched, clutching at the ground. Lucina must have felt him tense up, for she fell silent. It wasn’t as though Robin didn’t know the story’s end, anyway – of how the Robin of the future became Grima and killed Chrom. He gritted his teeth and shook his head to clear it. That was the past. In fact, as far as the future was concerned, it had never even happened. Chrom had been saved, Grima’s return had been averted, and the world was at peace.

But as much as Robin insisted he and Grima were different, he couldn’t help but feel guilty, perhaps shouldering the responsibility in the absence of the man who actually _did_ commit all those atrocities. He sighed and stared at Lucina’s face, illuminated by the pale moonlight. Her hand slipped off from his, and she clasped her hands together around her legs.

“You know, I never would have imagined that the man who became Grima in my time… Well, I never thought about that, I suppose. But I don’t think I would have imagined he’d ever be someone…”

“…As forgetful as me?” Robin offered her a cheeky grin, hoping to dissolve the tension of the situation.

Lucina smiled slightly. “Not quite. But you _do_ have a poor memory.”

There was something about the withdrawn smile that made it seem not completely sincere. The thoughts of Grima were still hanging over Lucina, Robin realized. It was only natural, he supposed, since she had lived all her life in a time of hopeless war and now found herself not only in a peaceful future, but with the man who could have caused all the destruction in the first place, had things gone a bit differently. Robin fiddled with the cloth of his cloak, remembering his old robe that almost looked like something a Grimleal cultist would wear.

“I just… I wonder about the you from my future,” said Lucina. “How if you’re so kind and gentle… how he could do what he did.”

Robin clicked his tongue. “Maybe it’s because of you.”

Lucina tilted her head, her blue hair falling around her like a cascading waterfall. “What do you mean?”

He felt admittedly a little put on the spot, but it wasn’t as though he could do nothing and just let her stew on these thoughts.

“Well, you returning to the past changed a lot of things. You warned us in advance about Grima’s return, and we did everything we could to prevent it. When Validar… and Grima… told me that I could have godhood if I finished the rite at the Dragon’s Table, I knew right away what it meant, and that no matter what, I couldn’t let it happen. Even if Validar tried to control me, I had to fight back. Because I knew what would happen if I failed – it’d create that devastated future you were fighting to prevent.”

Robin realized he was rambling, and he clamped his jaw shut.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No, I should apologize. What you say makes sense. I’m not good at just… living normally.” Lucina blew a strand of hair out of her face and slumped. “Whenever things are quiet, my mind just wanders to these things. I know it’s over, but…”

“…It doesn’t feel that way, right?” She nodded. “I don’t think it’ll ever just… go away. But I’ll always be here for you.”

Robin wrapped his arm around Lucina’s shoulders. She shifted a bit closer to him and seemed to relax, letting her legs stretch out. His eyes wandered as he tried to come up with something that could change the topic. Even from atop they hill they were on, there wasn’t much to see other than the sky. There were a few trees here and there at the hill’s bottom, but not much else. Robin peered up at the stars again, and his eyes lit up as he spied a familiar constellation.

“Do you see that sort of… upside-down V-shaped star cluster?” To his more trained eyes, it looked like a man wearing a large hooded cloak, but Robin doubted Lucina would be able to guess what it was at first glance.

To his surprise, Lucina said, “I know that one. He’s Bantu, the guardian. Tiki once pointed him out to me.”

Robin nodded, wondering when Lucina had ever had time to look at the stars with Tiki. Since the war ended and they found one another again, they hadn’t had a chance to visit to the Mila Tree. But _during_ the war, when the Voice fought alongside them, Lucina had always kept herself busy with a never-ending list of tasks. Robin could hardly imagine her taking time to do something like stargazing.

“Before we… went to fight Grima, she told me to make a prayer in Bantu’s name, so he’d give me the strength to protect those I cared most about. She said he wasn’t a god like Naga, but it still… somehow felt comforting.” Robin glanced at Lucina’s hands and noticed she was tapping her finger against her wedding band. “When you disappeared along with Grima, I thought for sure I’d failed… but I suppose Bantu came through for us in the end.”

Robin sighed, holding her closer. He ran his fingers through her hair as she leaned against him; her arm snaked around his waist, and he reveled for a moment in their closeness, at the warmth of his wife next to him. But there was a certain desperation in her hold on him, like she feared he might vanish again if she let go.

“I’ve caused you so much trouble,” he muttered.

“Some trouble is worth the cost.” Lucina craned her head to look back up at the sky, and Robin wasn’t sure if she was referring to what he’d done or Robin himself as trouble. “Still… Thank you. This made me feel better.”

“Bantu?” Robin asked, following her line of sight.

“I was referring to talking about this with you.” She said it so matter-of-factly that Robin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sorry that I’m forgetful _and_ dense,” he said before kissing her cheek.

Lucina’s smile grew a bit broader, and he heard a quiet chuckle. For how little Lucina laughed at his jokes, that may as well have been a fit of hysterical laughter. Robin reached across with his free hand, finding Lucina’s own. Intertwining their fingers, he gave her a grin.

“And sorry you’re stuck with me,” Robin added.

Lucina shook her head. Her eyes seemed to reflect the starlight, and Robin found himself spellbound. He was so distracted that he almost missed her response as she held his hand tighter.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better.”


End file.
